Rev11
by minmb82
Summary: Rev11


**Chapter 11**

_Daira, 7 Oraa , 4408, Faey Orthodox Calendar_

_ Thursday, 20 September 2022 Terran Standard Calendar_

_ Daira, 7 Oraa, year 1333 of the 97__th__ Generation, Karinne Historical Reference Calendar_

_KMS _Defiant_, orbiting Oasis_

He had a…strange feeling about this.

Of course, part of it was the fact that he was missing the match. The Paladins and the Assassins were playing at that moment, playing using bionoids built by Rook to the exact specifications that allowed them to mimic the physical characteristics of the players as much as possible. He watched some viddy of it on the trip over from Karis, and he had to admit, it looked absolutely identical to a match being played by flesh and blood Faey. The only difference was, the bionoids would not get tired, where the players might. Rook tried to install a stamina limiter into the bionoids, but he couldn't make it work exactly right before the match, so the match went on without it. But in Jason's opinion, that would just make the match more interesting. The players would be running at full speed the entire match, and the tactic of wearing out a team to get an advantage over them wouldn't work

If the sellout in both stadiums, both live and holo-casted, and live ratings for the match on IBN, the Imperium Bachi Network, were any indication, the fans were just as intrigued as the IBL over the idea of watching bionoids play rather than players.

Unfortunately, he had more on his mind than bachi, though it was a good distraction from those weighty thoughts. Simply put, Krazrou's belief that there might be a war between the Generations and the rest of the galaxy in the future was gnawing at him in a way that he did not like at all. As much as he didn't want to believe that it could happen, he had considered that possibility himself more than once over the last fourteen years. But to hear Krazrou voice that old fear so concisely and so _logically_, it had kept it rattling around in his brain since the conference.

That conference was going to begin very soon. The four fleet flagships had gone out to retrieve Kim, Sk'Vrae, Dahnai, and Krazrou and their retinues, and Jason had come on the _Defiant_ mainly because he didn't need a fleet flagship to move him around. He was here nearly three hours early, because he wanted to tour the stop and drop facility set down and give Aya the chance to inspect the security before they allowed the other rulers to come down. Since Dahnia and Jason were involved, security was being handled by the Imperial Guard, and the Colonel had put Aya in charge of the site because it was a Karinne holding and she could issue orders to KMS ships and personnel. Jason was standing on the bridge of the cruiser, a cruiser he once commanded himself, with Captain Mikano Strongblade sitting in the captain's chair watching on as the navigator inserted them into a synchronous orbit over their planned meeting site. It was on the beach as Dahnai requested, a small island in the tropical belt of the planet. The remote island was everything they needed, with no indigenous life larger than a marine bird, a large flat area on the south side of the island that was primarily knee-high golden grass with a small extinct volcano rising above it to the north dotted with sparse wide-canopied trees akin to Terran acacia trees, and an ample pristine beach with views of a beautiful aquamarine ocean. Oasis was truly a lovely planet, and the view down there would be absolutely gorgeous.

There were two other rulers that were going to attend the meeting, and that was Enva and Kreel. They were attending because while their people weren't being altered by the virus, they _had_, and so their input may be needed in their deliberations. And given that the Sha'i-ree and the Grimja were strong allies of the four rulers attending the meeting, what they decided very well may affect their two empires.

Krirara was also going to attend as a consultant, by special exemption granted by the Kirri Council to allow her to involve herself in politics despite no longer being in the government. That made Jason quite happy, because Krirara was a powerful voice of big old common sense.

It was a bit of an experience for Jason for another reason, and that was because every member of the crew of the _Defiant_ was a Generation. It was a bit…weird meeting them in the companionways, looking at Mikano and knowing what she was, a reaction that had always brought about a sense of kinship in their formally small, tight-knit, intimate little community. He'd just gotten used to the residents of the strip all being Generations, and now he was adjusting to the idea that the entire crew of the oldest ship in the KMS were as well.

The ship was a good example of how the virus both had and had not changed basic operating procedures in the KMS. Even though nobody needed an interface anymore, everyone still wore one, because it was integral standard equipment in the KMS. Interfaces didn't just open doors around here, they were a unique ID that determined who had access to what area, and they were also the primary means of communication on the ship. The encryption protocols they adopted after meeting the Pai years ago were critically important now, now that more than just the Karinnes could potentially hear commune, so every member of the crew had to wear an interface to send and receive encrypted commune. There was quite a bit of both open commune and sending flying around on the ship, but those were _personal_ communications. If it involved ship operations in any way, it had to be on what was called ELC, Encrypted Local Commune. However, as an extra layer of security, people who worked with top secret equipment or in top secret areas had to further verify their identity by communing with the ship's computer when entering restricted areas, to prove they were who they said they were. Some day, someone might find a way to spoof a military interface ID, but there was no way in hell they could spoof a Generation's organic commune. To get onto the bridge, Jason had had to verify his identity by communing with the ship's computer, who had his unique communal "voiceprint" on file.

The ability to commune was unique to each Generation, they'd come to learn, and it would serve as a unique proof of identification. No other Generation had Jason's exact bandwidth or "flavor" of commune, and it was something that another Generation could not copy, nor could a _biogenic unit_ mimic it without it being detectable as artificial. A biogenic unit could detect the unique aspects of a Generation's organic commune, so it allowed a biogenic device to identify a Generation by his organic commune alone. That had been instituted into the KMS to serve as a second layer of security, for now not only did a KMS member need an interface to get into a restricted area, he had to prove he was who his interface said he was by providing his unique communal "voiceprint" to the computer by organic commune.

The other, lesser-known aspect of a Generation was being used by the KMS as a security feature as well, and that was radiation resistance. They had plans to install radiation emitters on every KMS ship that would make the ship hazardous to non-Generations. The ships would have an internal low intensity radiation field that was just enough to cause radiation sickness in invaders after prolonged exposure, but not strong enough to irradiate the Generation's belongings, thus making him or her a hazard to non-Generations off the ship. If the ship crew thought they had intruders aboard, those emitters could be cranked up to the edge of Generation tolerance, which would kill anything not resistant to radiation within 30 minutes. Their radiation resistance was a very rare trait among living things in the galaxy, especially among sentient species. Only the Generations, the Kimdori, and the Jakkans had strong resistance to radiation, at least of which they were aware, in the Milky Way. And since it was such a rare trait, that made it very useful when it came to increasing security on KMS ships.

_[We are in stable synchronous orbit over the meeting site, Captain,]_ the navigator announced over bridge ELC. _[All ships in the squadron are also in stable orbit.]_ There were two destroyers and four frigates escorting them, surrounding the _Defiant_ in a defensive formation. That was by Aya's insistence.

There would be many more ships here very soon, because each of the fleet flagships was part of a task force to provide security for their passengers, and those task forces would combine into a very formidable fleet over Oasis to protect the planet while they had their conference. There was a small task force already here, which was a carrier being escorted by a task force of 18 ships of almost all ship classes in the KMS, from the fleet battleship _Ori Ai_, which currently held the flag for this theatre, down to frigates.

_[Very good, Lieutenant. Your Grace, you and your retinue can leave at your convenience,]_ Mikano answered, looking over at him.

_[We'll be departing right now, Mikki,]_ he nodded. _[Aya, we're in orbit and ready to go. Get everyone ready to bounce.]_

_ [We're already in the landing bay, your Grace. We're just waiting for you.]_

Mikano accompanied him down to the main starboard landing bay, where two large jumpers and five mecha were squeezed into the open space. Titans wouldn't easily fit on a cruiser, but Cheetahs _would_, because they were built on a horizontal base and were much sleeker. Three Cheetahs were packed shoulder to shoulder that took up the entirety of the landing bay, with the other main landing bay on the other side of the ship holding two armored personnel jumpers and a 12 passenger executive dropship. One of those Cheetahs was Jason's personal mecha, outfitted with a tactical gestalt, and he would be taking it down to the surface rather than ride in a dropship. Both Aya and Jason preferred him to move around in a mecha, because Aya felt it made him much harder to kill in a mecha and Jason simply enjoyed piloting a mecha more than riding in the passenger seat of a dropship. The other two Cheetah riggers were already in their mecha, and for given that they'd be hosting rulers, those riggers were Kyva and Ebri from the KBB. The rest of the KBB was also here, and would be launching from their Whale.

_Ready to go, Jayce?_ Kyva called as he put on his helmet, then engaged the grav pods in his armor and floated up onto the mecha and then down into the armored box cockpit. He settled himself into the gel backing, and the box closed, completely immobilizing him. He merged up into his Cheetah and endured the moment of sensory deprivation as the unit came up from standby mode, until he could feel the quadrupedal mechanical body as if it were his own.

_Ready here, Kyva,_ he answered as he had his Cheetah stand up. Kyva and Ebri did the same, the three Cheetahs motionless as they waited. _[We're ready to go, Aya. Soon as you give the word that everyone's aboard the jumpers, we can head out.]_

_ [We're almost ready, Jason,]_ she answered.

_[You have clearance to launch whenever you're ready,]_ Mikano supplied.

_[The last Marine is on and strapped in. We're ready,]_ Aya called. For this summit, Aya had 30 of her Imperial Guard on site with 60 Karinne Marines acting as additional security, all under Aya's command. In addition to them, the first cadet class of the Karinne Dukal Guard was on this trip to get some good in-field training, six Faey, one Terran, and one Shio. They'd been in training for two years so far, and had about four more to go before they would graduate and become the first full members of the Dukal Guard. There was a second class about a year behind them holding only six, at least now. That class had started with 26. Most applicants washed out in the first year, which was universally regarded to be the most hellish experience anyone could ever willingly undertake. Imperial Guard training made the old USMC's infamous Hell Week to look like a vacation by comparison, and the first year was, by far, the worst. That was where the Guard weeded out the unfit..

That was about the normal washout rate for Imperial Guard training. It was beyond demanding, and only the most elite, determined people were going to pass it.

_[Then let's get going,]_ Jason ordered, walking towards the open bay doors, the planet visible as a crescent across the bottom of the bay opening.

It was a short but very pleasant trip down from the cruiser, Kyva in the lead, he and Ebri to her flanks and behind her, and eight other members of the KBB in Titans in a defensive ring around the three passenger ships. The other 30 members of the KBB would stay up in space to serve as naval defense in case the task force was threatened, since there was no real threat present on the planet. They came in over the ocean and had the island slowly come into view over the horizon, a roughly triangular island about two kathra in diameter with the north side dominated by an extinct volcano that had been eroded down to a large, steep-sloped ridge that ran across the wide side of the island, with the southern grass plain tapering down to a peninsula. They landed in the designated mecha zone about a hundred shakra from the prefab building that had been put down yesterday, which vaguely looked like a trailer or mobile home. It had the same long profile. It also rested above the ground, sitting on six wide "feet" that put the entrance about eight shakra off the ground. The building was dominated by a large conference room in the middle, directly accessed from the main entrance, with small offices for support staff and equipment to each side. A set of retracting stairs—the main entrance was on the other side from the landing zone—provided access to the interior. Beyond the conference building was a landed Thrynne Star Cruiser Executive yacht, a frigate-sized private luxury ship, holding a galley staffed by elite Shio chefs who could cook in nearly any style or tradition, executive lounges for relaxation, richly appointed staterooms so rulers could take naps or otherwise rest in private, and offices so rulers could call back to their empires and confer with advisors in private. Jason had bought the Star Cruiser just yesterday from Thrynne and primarily just for this conference, so the rulers would have somewhere to rest that was suitably fancy. He did it mainly to free himself from Dahnai's bitching about the conditions. After the conference was over, the KMS would take ownership of the yacht and convert it into an executive transport for very high ranking military and civilian VIPs. The plan was to turn it into something nice enough to carry a galactic ruler, but only something that would be used within a security zone. If they were transporting rulers outside of a security zone, they would be carried in a fleet flagship. The Starliner was small enough to land in the main landing bay of a fleet flagship, which made it perfect as a luxury taxi to get rulers back and forth from the ship to their destination.

_[Nice place,]_ Kyva noted as her mecha's head looked to and fro. _[I didn't know this planet was so pretty.]_

_ [You've never done training here?]_ Jason asked.

_[Nope.]_

_ [Huh, I thought you had.]_

_ [We were on deployment in Andromeda doing training with the Reavers when the KMS did their yearly wargames here,]_ she told him. _[We missed out.]_

_ [Oh, I'm sure you were devastated to miss a wargame,]_ he told her cheekily.

_[That one I was. Everyone who was there told me it was boring as hell.]_

The jumpers and dropships landed, and the Guard and Marines boiled out under Aya's orders, quickly spreading out to their assigned posts as Jason exited his mecha and walked around the building. Krirara walked out of the last jumper to land along with the bionoids that would serve as Jason's staff for the conference, all of them generic "administration" bionoids that Cybi would control. Kyva and Ebri joined the other members of the KBB, and they moved out to their assigned guard positions or patrol areas. That gave Jason free run of the place until the others arrived, which he spent inspecting the facility with Aya and Krirara, checking over the yacht, then changing into something more comfortable than armor. Jason had told the others that this was an informal conference, so there was no need for formal attire…such as attire would be worn in the first place. The Sha'i-ree, Kimdori, and Kirri didn't wear clothes, and the Urumi had a similar outlook to the Faey in that clothes were considered accessories, not mandatory. Sk'Vrae would wear a formal robe for official functions, but outside of that, in personal or unofficial settings, she usually preferred to wear nothing…and Jason could understand why. The bony dermal plates on an Urumi would make wearing clothing a trifle annoying, with the fabric constantly getting snagged on them. It was especially bad for males, who had that series of small bony spikes that run down their spines and the top portion of their tails, a feature that females lacked. For the Urumi, males had the spinal spikes and females had those bony crests that grew out of the top and backs of their heads. That just left Jason, Dahnai, and Kreel, and the only one among those three that might want to dress formally was Dahnai.

.The first ruler to arrive was Kreel, and he came off the dropship wearing his favorite Bermuda shorts and a Hawaiian shirt, taking to heart Jason's warning that this wasn't a formal meeting. He took the Grimja's hand with a smile, and Kreel patted him on the shoulder. _[I figured you'd get bored waiting around for us,]_ he grinned. _[So, I hope you stocked that fancy ship over there with Makati ale.]_

_ [I'm not letting you get drunk before the conference, Kreel.]_

_ [Me? Get drunk? Just who do you think I am?]_ he communed with outrageously feigned innocence.

Jason sighed and shook his head, which made the Grimja laugh.

The others arrived more or less right on time, one by one, with Enva arriving the way Kreel did on a command ship, and the other four arriving on the four fleet flagships that went out to get them. They were standing out by the beach appreciating the view and talking when Zaa arrived on a Kimdori dropship, and Jason was quite surprised when the door opened and he saw that she wasn't alone. There was a Pai with her, King Mrrshan himself, the tiny Pai's head only just barely cresting Zaa's kneecap. He was dressed in a kilt-like wrap of soft yellow with a gold belt around his waist, his tail poking out from a split in the back of the fabric. Those kinds of kilts were favored by Pai males. "Mrrshan?" Krirara said aloud, her voice perplexed.

"I have no idea either," Jason answered the question she was about to ask. But as he looked at him, the realization dawned on him that Mrrshan being here was going to expose him to the virus. He'd _already_ been exposed to the virus, the moment the dropship opened its hatch. Him changing was a statistical certainty at this point. Zaa had to know that, so there had to be some kind of dreadfully important reason that she would bring him here and expose him to the virus, especially since he would have to be quarantined and couldn't return to Paian for at least 45 days. "But he's stuck here now. And stuck with us."

"He's been exposed," Dahnai realized.

"If not now, then he will be before he leaves," Enva added.

"Then something massively major must be going on for Zaa to do this," Kreel said seriously.

"Truly," Sk'Vrae agreed. "She would not bring him here and expose him to the virus if not for a dreadfully important reason."

"Denmother, I think you'll understand why I'd ask why you brought Mrrshan with you," Jason said as they approached the ramp. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, Mrrshan, but you've now been exposed to the virus."

"I've already been exposed to the virus, Jason," the small male said in his high-pitched voice…just not as high as Mrar or Mrri. "That's one of the things I'm here to talk to you about."

"The virus is on Paian?"

"And Muros," he nodded gravely. "It's been detected on all three planets in the system. A ship should be arriving soon carrying Chancellor Elrin. We're not sure how it got there. Either my daughter carried it from Karis before the quarantine was put in place and it took this long to appear, or it somehow got to one of the three planets in the system on a cargo container, and spread to the other two planets from there."

"Which version is it?" Jason asked Zaa.

"The Karis strain, so it's already started spreading across the entire system," she replied. "In a matter of months, both the Pai and the Muri will become cousins."

"Well, I think your theory just gained a lot of traction, Kraz," Dahnai said, looking over at the Kirri.

"I don't relish being right, cousin," Krazrou replied soberly. "But this fact does put significantly more weight on this conference."

"Elrin should be here momentarily," Zaa told them. "The ship I sent to pick him up was only minutes behind us."

"Then I think we can wait out here until he arrives, then get straight to business," Jason said, turning to look back at the building. _[Cybi, set two more seats at the conference table. Make sure one of them is for a Pai.]_

_ [I'll put that one on the table,]_ she replied seriously. All the CB units had bionoids on the planet, but only Cybi would be in the conference room. The others would be listening in.

"The Muri are going to complicate things. The Pai, not so much," Dahnai said. "Mrrshan already knows way more than anyone else about what's going on."

"To be truthful, being changed won't change us all that much," Mrrshan said modestly. "It does mean that the rest of the population will gain telepathy, but our telepaths could already hear communion anyway."

"And at least they won't have to learn TK," Jason said with grim amusement. "And you could probably hide the fact that the Pai were changed because of it."

After Chancellor Elrin arrived, the current head of the ruling council of Muros, they moved to the conference room. Cybi was already there, standing by the table as they entered, wearing a very casual Terran tank top and a pair of cargo shorts. Administration bionoids, which looked entirely Faey but all had the same face, entered the room and set panels and refreshments down for them. Jason sat down, and for a moment, he had to ponder the change that was represented in Sk'Vrae, Kim, and Krazrou. To see them, to _know_ they were Generations, it hammered home the fact that permanent change had come to the galaxy, and it was a change that had the potential to ignite the entire galaxy in war. And in Mrrshan and Elrin, he saw the potential future, where the virus broke containment again and again, either by accident or design, and the ranks of the Generations swelled one planetary population at a time. He had no idea what was coming. He had no idea how this was going to change things. But what he did know was that this conference, and the conference on Imbiri, were absolutely necessary. "Alright, did Denmother explain what this conference is for, Elrin?" he asked the nearly elderly Muri, speaking aloud for the benefit of those at the table who couldn't commune.

"She did, Jason," he nodded. Elrin was a very handsome man, to almost any humanoid species, his age making him look austere and regal rather than old. His face didn't look old, it looked mature.. His dark brown hair was tied back behind his head, and it had liberal streaks of white in it, betraying his age where his face did not. Like everyone else, he had dressed casually, wearing a Muri recreational tunic and a pair of leggings that ended at the upper shins, which was a Muri fashion. "And in the time reaching here to think about it, I can understand why we're all here. Very soon, all of our peoples are going to be Generations, and the rest of the galaxy is not. That might make us targets."

"The way things are going, the rest of the galaxy very well may be," Krazrou said seriously. "This virus has the ability to conceal itself, and the fact that it has spread to three other empires despite quarantine efforts demonstrates a need for us to make plans about how to deal with that, as well as the possibility that the rest of the galaxy might fear us so much that they may try to exterminate us."

"I'd find that hard to believe, but I'll admit that it might be possible," Elrin said, glancing at the Kirri.

"It's more than possible," Kim finally spoke up. It was the first time he'd spoken since greeting the others when he arrived. But then again, that was Kim's way. He was usually silent during meetings, since Terra was a neutral entity. He often felt he had no business sticking his nose in the Confederation's business unless it affected Terra directly. "My own planet has any number of examples of what can happen when one group fears or develops hatred for another group. Part of what this conference is about is coming up with a plan to prevent that from happening on a galactic scale, at least as much as we can."

"There's a lot we have to discuss, including the upcoming summit on Imbiri," Jason added.

Krazrou stood up. "I believe our first order of business is to consider what I said yesterday," he began. "For those who were not privy to that conversation, let me explain. This virus has demonstrated an ability to slip through quarantine, because it is extremely hard to detect using medical scanners and it is exceptionally resilient. Add to that the fact that there is documented evidence that natural viral structures can be spontaneously transformed into a similar retrovirus by exposure to Generation DNA."

"Is that true, Jason?" Mrrshan asked, looking at him.

"Afraid it is, Mrrshan," he sighed. "Three years ago, we had a case of a Sha'i-ree virus called Jaisho-T which was mutated into a retrovirus after it was exposed to Generation DNA. Lucky for us, the virus was created in such a way that it could only affect members of a specific family, the Jaisho virus picked up too much of the creating Generation's DNA to make it generic enough to infect anyone. It infected the other members of the Generation's family who were not Generations before it was contained, who became Generations. We have strong evidence that the virus rampaging across our empires was engineered, but it's not the first retrovirus we've had to deal with. After the Jaisho incident, the Karinne Medical Service started researching methods to prevent another retrovirus from being created, but what's happened lately has more or less rendered that research moot."

"So it's a very rare thing?"

He nodded. "The Jaisho virus three years ago came about because Generation DNA was created by an engineered retrovirus, and that aspect of our DNA still exists, the potential to attack and transform other cells by adding the Generation segments of DNA into them. It's why cancer is so dangerous to the Terran Generations," he explained. "Our DNA is more vulnerable to becoming malignant than Faey DNA, and when cancer appears in us, it spreads like wildfire because the programmed behavior of attacking and transforming other cells to match themselves is unconstrained inside them. Kim, Dahnai, one of the things you're going to have to do is have the Terran Medical Service massively step up cancer screening and detection for all Terrans," he told them. "Especially for anyone over the age of thirty. Unfortunately, being changed by this new retrovirus won't change the fact that Terran Generations are vulnerable to developing cancer. And when it appears, it can spread like absolute wildfire."

"I'll be sure to send that down when I get back," Kim nodded.

"I thought Songa was working on that," Dahnai said.

"There's not much she can do. Yeah, she developed some vaccines to prevent any cancer that can develop due to an outside source, but it can't stop cancer that spontaneously appears. That can happen any time a Generation's cells divide. The Terran Generations on Karis have a cancer screening every six months, and more often than not for me and Rahne, Songa finds malignant cells."

"Because of that, because a Generation can spontaneously create a retrovirus, we have to seriously consider the fact that there are going to be more outbreaks," Krazrou told them. "And that those outbreaks are going to become more and more common as there are more and more Generations. In time, the Generations are going to spread across the galaxy, until we reach a tipping point. Eventually, ultimately I believe, the entire galaxy will be Generations. It is a mathematical certainty," he declared calmly. "What we must do here and now is formulate a plan that prevents a panic, or even worse, a genocidal war between the Generations and those who are not. We must face the prospect that in the future, maybe ten cycles from now, maybe a thousand cycles from now, the rest of the galaxy becomes so fearful of us that they try to kill us all. Our duty, our responsibility to our descendants, is stopping that from happening by putting into place a plan that keeps the peace and makes the ultimate transition of the galaxy to becoming Generations peaceful."

Dead silence greeted him, even among those who had already heard him say it. They gave him sober, nearly grim looks, then Mrrshan blew out his breath. "That…is a convincing argument, Krazrou," the tiny Pai said soberly. "If a retrovirus can form naturally, it's just a statistical inevitability that another one appears when there are billions and billions of Generations. And if it gets created on a planet where a Generation is just visiting, it'll have thousands, maybe millions of hosts to infect before it's detected and the empire can move to quarantine the planet. And even then, the quarantine is only going to isolate it to a geographical area," he surmised. "I don't have the exact figures from the Imperium and the Kirri, but the speed that the virus spread across your empires makes it clear that it's extremely hard to isolate."

"This particular virus is, because it was artificially created, and was created to be unstoppable," Jason told him. "The Jaisho incident we had on Karis, we were able to isolate and quarantine the virus before it had a chance to mutate to start affecting other people."

"How did you do it?" Elrin asked.

"We used medical spiders," he replied. "They were able to kill the viral structures. But the problem is, spiders are proprietary Karinne technology, they rely on biogenic tech, so it's not something I'd be willing to spread across the galaxy to combat outbreaks. It actually puts me in a bit of a dilemma," he grunted. "I don't want any retroviruses to spread, but I also can't release the only technology we have that can contain them quickly. A naturally occurring retrovirus won't be quite as virulent as this engineered virus is, but as Mrrshan said, we'd be looking at the potential that they would appear much more often because of the sheer number of Generations there are now."

"I've had time to consider Krazrou's words, and I find they have merit. I think he's right. The only options we would have would be to either completely isolate ourselves from the outside or plan for that eventuality," Sk'Vrae said, mirroring her past statement. "The question is, how do we go about doing that. Walling ourselves off from the rest of the galaxy would be very hard, if not impossible."

"Not impossible, but very hard. And one thing that I'd suggest all of you do very soon is start severely restricting travel into your empires from the outside. One of the things you'll need to guard against are empires _trying_ to convert their populations to Generations, so expect a wave of spies to invade your empires with orders to get samples of Generation DNA so they can do what was done in the Imperium that created this mess, use our DNA to create a retrovirus. That was one of the reasons we've kept Karis closed off," he told them.

"It may be too late for that," Dahnai said. "But walling ourselves off may incite the exact reaction Krazrou says we should avoid. If the rest of the galaxy fears us, it makes it much more likely they'll come after us. And not even all of us together could fight off the entire galaxy. Not even with the KMS and their gestalts."

"It is indeed a vexing problem," Zaa spoke up, "made worse by the fact that there are some out there we do not see as deserving of becoming cousins. All those at this table we accept as family, even Kreel," she said, giving him a slight smile, which made him laugh. "For those we dislike to become as family to us will no doubt cause the Kimdori problems. Most likely, we will simply not associate with them."

"That's something you can explain to me, Denmother. Why do I feel you the way I feel the others? I thought that Kimdori were immune to the virus. Have you secretly been Generations all along?" Kim asked.

She shook her head. "The Kimdori were involved in the efforts that created the original Generations, Kim. To put it briefly, Generation DNA includes segments of Kimdori DNA. We are related by that fact, thus why we call the Karinnes _cousins_. And now you are cousins," she said, looking around the table. "Or soon will be."

"Generations share the aspect of Kimdori that allow them to know each other by sight," Jason elaborated. "Kimdori can sense each other no matter what shape they hold. Well, the part of their DNA that causes that is part of the DNA that was used to create the original Generations, and it has passed down over the generations to us," he finished. "That's why we can sense each other, and sense the Kimdori. We see them, and we _know _they are part of us. In that way, we _are_ related. Very distantly, but we are related. The Kimdori are our distant cousins by virtue of the fact that their DNA is part of us."

"Oh. Ohhhhh," Kim breathed. "I understand."

"It definitely has that effect on me," Dahnai said. "I look around this table, and I see _family_," she said sincerely, reaching to each side and taking the hands of Sk'Vrae and Jason, who were sitting to each side of her. "And not just me. The morale of the Imperium has never been higher than right now. My people see each other as relatives, as family, and it's making them, well, very considerate of each other."

"We've had the same phenomenon on Karis," Jason said.

"And Kirri'arr," Krazrou agreed. "But we digress, friends. I've had time to consider this issue, and I have a preliminary plan to propose to you. "If I may?" he asked, picking up the handpanel.

"You have access, Moderator," Cybi told him.

He downloaded a file from his interface into the handpanel in front of Jason, which caused its screen to come on. He picked it up and read the title: [**TRANSITION PLAN A**]. "I think the best means of protecting our people from a genocidal attack is to prevent the easy drawing of sides," he said. "My idea is to allow _certain_ members of all races in the galaxy to become Generations, people that the Kimdori screen to ensure they won't willingly turn against us. We can adopt a screening process similar to the one that the Karinnes use to induct new members of the house," he said, nodding towards Jason, "and select people to become Generations. Those Generations will reside in their home empires and will serve their rulers, granting other races the benefits and potential that comes with having Generations among them. The screening process is to ensure that we don't change people that will turn around and try to kill us. I believe that over time, those segments of Generations within their populations will prevent a genocidal war, because each empire will have Generations within their own population. And because they are within their empires, it would foment the eventual conversion of the entire galaxy to being Generations. And though it may sound a bit brutal, those Generations will be the first warning that something is amiss, if an empire attacks the Generations within its own population. That will alert us to the problem and give us time to respond. I know this idea is not perfect," he said, looking at Jason before he could make any number of objections to the idea. "But what this plan depends upon most is the Karinnes keeping biogenic technology away from the rest of the galaxy. Jason. Cousin. If that could be accomplished, if you can find some way to protect biogenic tech, would you be amenable to this idea?"

He gave Krazrou a surprised look. Truly, the Moderator knew Jason well, and knew exactly how to both formulate his plan and get past the biggest roadblock to it, Jason himself.

"Nothing is impossible, Kraz," Jason told him. "But for argument's sake, if I could do that, absolutely guarantee that biogenic tech never gets out…I'm not sure. Maybe," he said. "The biggest reason we've worked so hard to prevent Generations from spreading outside of the House is exactly because of what they could do if they got their hands on biogenic tech. The misery and chaos that would create would be our fault. _My_ fault. It would be a violation of the oaths I took when I took the title of Grand Duke. I've told most of you that I don't personally object to some people being Generations outside the house, people I trust, people who have a cultural identity that doesn't make them aggressive or expansionistic. The Kirri are a perfect example of that. I was only mildly annoyed when we found out the virus was loose there, and felt like I'd dodged a bullet, because the Kirri are one of the most peaceful and rational races in the galaxy. While the Faey violate those tenets," he said honestly, looking at Dahnai, "and the Urumi do as well, there's not much I can do about that except use the influence I have on Dahnai and Sk'Vrae to keep them from using this gift for war. They both know how I feel about it, and know I'd be bitterly disappointed in them if they ever did anything like that."

"And you'd send the Karinne fleet after us," Dahnai added lightly.

"And yes, I'd blow your ass to hell and back," he agreed without emotion. "But the KMS isn't big enough to keep _everyone_ from doing something like that. Nor do I want to become the galaxy's police or peacekeepers. Still speaking in hypotheticals, I guess I wouldn't be _entirely_ opposed to the idea. There are people out there I would trust with this gift. Like Kreel, and Krirara, and Enva," he said, looking at each of them in turn. "If we could find others that are worthy of becoming cousins, and somehow prevent the rulers from seeing them as enemies being implanted into their empires by us, which would only cause the problem we're trying to avoid, I could back a plan like that. Just with a hell of a lot of conditions."

Krirara spoke up. "The idea does have merit, but it's also got a lot of pitfalls you're not taking into account. The largest one is one that Jason just voiced, if _we_ dictate who becomes Generations, it's going to make those empires automatically suspicious of the Generations. They'll think they're agents of the Karinnes or the Kimdori, there to pretend to cooperate with their home empire but secretly working for us."

"That's going to be the biggest obstacle to this proposal," Enva said as she scanned through the text on her panel; Enva was a _very_ fast reader. "Most of the Confederation is already somewhat suspicious of Jason and the Karinnes, and if they suddenly started offering to convert selected members of their empires, it's going to make the rulers very suspicious. I honestly don't see a way we can get around that unless we do the screening and conversion in secret…which goes against the intention of the plan in the first place. Secretly implanting Generations into the other empires would cause a violent reaction."

"I'd have to agree," Kreel said. "I don't think there's any way this plan's going to work, Kraz. I'm sorry. There's just going to be too much suspicion, and that suspicion very well might incite the genocide the plan means to prevent. The only way a plan like this would work is if we don't pick and choose who gets it. In effect, we'd have to just end the quarantines and tell people that if they want the virus, come get it. But we're not responsible for any mass casualties it might cause if it mutates into something lethal."

"You mean intentionally let it loose?" Jason asked.

He nodded. "It's going to get out eventually anyway, and if it doesn't, then it's only a matter of time before a new naturally occurring retrovirus appears. The fact that Mrrshan and Elrin are here is proof of that. I say if we've got gum in our fur, let's rip it out quick instead of enduring the pain of trying to pull it out slowly. Just get it over with. We use the time we have while the rest of the galaxy is adjusting to the new normal to turn Karis and the other Karinne holdings into absolute impregnable fortresses to keep biogenic tech out of the hands of everyone else. So long as the Karinnes have it, it'll act as a powerful incentive to stay peaceful. The threat of them swarming all over someone who's naughty will keep people from getting any crazy ideas. We'll have to watch some empires more than others, like the Prakarikai and the Chezan, but in my opinion, it's the only way it's going to work. At least Kraz's plan A, anyway," he said with a smile at the Kirri. "If I know Kraz, he's probably got five or six plans to present."

"Eight, actually," Krazrou said mildly. "And what you propose, Kreel, is actually Plan D. I considered that very thing."

"The problem with that idea is that it's going to turn the Karinnes into a target," Sk'Vrae said. "And you're wrong, Kreel. The others won't just sit on their haunches during the transition period, they'll try to take biogenic technology before anyone else is in a position to do the same, so they have the capability to mass produce it by the time their population can use it. No matter which plan we ultimately decide to go with, the first act of _any_ of them should be fortifying Karis to make it absolutely unassailable. We should all agree to a military alliance to protect Karis to keep biogenics out of the claws of those that would use it against us," she declared. "And Jason, your primary duty to yourself, to us, and to the entire galaxy is finding a way to make Karis indomitable."

"You don't ask for much, do you, Sk'Vrae?" Jason asked darkly.

"You are the most technologically advanced civilization in the galaxy, Jason," she told him. "If anyone can find a way to do it, it is the Karinnes. Set your 3D people on the problem and let them do what they do best."

"I already have," he answered. "The moment this chaos started, the fact that Karis might become a target has been on our minds. I put all of 3D on creating new tech to protect Karis, and so far, I haven't heard that much from them."

"Hypothetically speaking, Jason, if you could make biogenic technology unreachable by the others, would you, or Denmother, object to the idea?" Krazrou pressed.

Jason looked over at Zaa, who only shrugged. "Hypothetically speaking…I don't think so. But that's an awfully big hypothetical, Kraz. The first thing you have to assume about any technology is that there's a way to crack it that you didn't think about, but someone else will. No technology, no system is perfect. What we'd have to strive for is making a system that makes it so _difficult_ to crack our defenses that it would give us time to catch them trying. From an espionage standpoint, that is. Militarily, I'm not too worried."

"Why not?"

He blew out his breath. "For the last three years, the Karinnes have been carrying out a plan to vastly expand the size of our military," he admitted. "Our goal was to have a military that could stand up against the CCM by itself, in case the Confederation ever turned against us. Right now, we have nearly eight thousand ships actively commissioned and nearly two thousand ships built but not yet commissioned because we don't have the people to man them. We keep the full size of our navy hidden from everyone else, which isn't that hard with translight drives. At any time, more than half of our fleet is out doing exploration missions in conjunction with the KES. That keeps those who are allowed to visit Karis from seeing the full size of our navy."

Dahnai gave him a shocked look, then laughed ruefully. "I had no idea, and I've been on Karis more than anyone here but Zaa!" she blurted.

"I'm a little surprised you went that far, Jason, but I can see the wisdom of it," Krazrou said soberly. "And that decision will only help us now. How many of those ships have gestalts in them?"

"Very soon, _all_ of them," he replied strongly. "All line vessels cruiser and above already have a gestalt in them, but we're going to refit every destroyer and frigate in the fleet with a gestalt strong enough to protect it. As it stands now, Karis more or less _is_ a fortress, between the Navy and the planetary defenses we have there. We've significantly upgraded them since the war," he told them strongly. "But it's still not enough. If we do this, Karis may end up being attacked by the entire rest of the galaxy. We could hold off the Confederation. We could hold off the Coalition. But we couldn't hold off _both_, and that's a definite possibility if they decide that just having Generations isn't enough."

"Alright, so in the short term, Karis will be safe enough. That brings us back to the idea to release the virus," Krazrou said. "Would anyone else here object to that idea?"

"Potentially. It would depend on if we can hold the Confederation together," Dahnai replied. "If we can do that, if we have enough of a unified front to scare anyone outside the Confederation from trying anything, I'd be alright with it. If anything, we'll have the advantage. I can send my people out to teach yours how to use telepathy, and once we master it, communion. We _are_ the galaxy's experts on the matter," she said with a bit of preening.

"That's true," Enva noted. "Having the Faey on our side is a major advantage. While everyone else is teaching their people, we'll already have a very large force of military-trained telepaths to oppose them."

"The trick of it comes after everyone else trains up," Kreel injected. "But by that point, I think the new normal will have settled in and there won't be as much threat. We just have to get past the _oh my gosh new toy_ phase of this."

"Not quite," Sk'Vrae objected. "The threat will be even greater when the rest of the galaxy catches up to us. Our mission should be to be so strong that by the time they fully train their people, they want no part of us. And not just those at this table, the entire Confederation."

"Plan C involves releasing the virus only within the Confederation at first, and then offering it to those outside the Confederation once we meet certain thresholds of security and defense," Krazrou told them. "Perhaps this is the proper time for me to go over all eight available plans, so we might consider them either in full or in bits and pieces we can apply to other plans.

They listened as Krazrou presented all eight plans, which all had the same basic premise—releasing the virus—but had different approaches to doing it. They ranged from just letting it go and allowing the cards to fall where they may to a highly structured and regimented release of the virus in a carefully structured pattern that Krazrou felt would afford maximum protection for both the Confederation and the Generations. Included in each plan was the down sides of them that Krazrou could see, from the potential they'd be attacked by outside forces while implementing the plan to internal strife and resistance. After hearing the plans, they debated them for nearly six hours, one by one, and then discussing elements of them that they saw as favorable or unfavorable.

They took a break for a meal and so Sk'Vrae could get in a quick nap, which Jason spent mostly sitting on the beach down the hill from the building and watching the waves after a quick meal, leaning back on his hands, lost in thought. Krazrou was right. It was going to be impossible to contain the virus. Oh, they may contain _this_ one, but it was a statistical certainty that another virus was going to appear, and that one may spread too quickly before it was detected for them to keep it contained. There would be another Jaisho-T, and the next one may not be quite so easily contained, nor may it be effectively harmless. The potential still existed for a Generation-borne retrovirus to evolve into something deadly, a plague of biblical proportions, and the easiest way to reduce that threat was to make as many people as possible immune from _spreading_ the virus. A Generation could be infected by such a killer virus, they weren't immune from retroviruses the way the Kimdori were, but since they were already Generations, it would vastly reduce the proliferation of the virus from that host. Retroviruses reproduced by invading a cell and copying its RNA into the DNA of the host cell, altering its DNA, then hijacking the cell's functions and using the cell's division mechanic to reproduce itself, cloning multiple copies of itself in the DNA division process. If a retrovirus ran into a cell that _already_ had most of the virus' RNA encoding, it may not be able to insert its genome into the DNA to hijack the cell's division mechanic to reproduce. It would still corrupt the cell and make it potentially malignant to the rest of the body, but that cell may not be able to reproduce the virus, thus drastically cutting down on its proliferation.

Retroviruses were some of the nastiest pathogens in existence. The HIV virus that caused AIDS was the perfect Terran example of a retrovirus, which was exceptionally lethal and also extremely hard to stop.

It was also why the Medical Service used the HIV virus as its foundation when building the retrovirus rampaging across the empires present at this meeting. The unique way the HIV virus attacked the body, by attacking its immune system first, made it very, very hard to stop, even by today's modern, advanced medicine.

Dahnai and Enva wandered out to where he was and sat down on either side of him, and Mrrshan came right up behind them and stood in front of them…though his head was still well below theirs. "If you don't mind, I'd like to summon Mrri to participate in the rest of this discussion," he ventured. "She's one of my most trusted advisors, and she's very intelligent. Plus, she's already a Generation, so there's no risk there."

"I don't have an objection, Mrrshan," Jason said, looking over at him. _[Cybi, Mrrshan wants to bring in Mrri.]_

_ [He already told me, I told him to ask you. I'll arrange transport for her.]_

_ [Good deal.]_ "Cybi's going to arrange it," he told the tiny Pai.

"Are you looking forward to it, Mrrshan?" Enva asked.

He didn't have to ask what she meant. "Oh, very much yes," he chuckled. "I'm one of the unlucky ones in my family, Enva. Talent skipped over me and my brothers, it's something of a peculiarity among my people. Telepathy will sometimes skip a generation. My father had it, my daughter has it. I'm the unlucky one in the middle. I'll get to experience their world very soon."

"Soon as you change, I'll send one of my Imperial Guards to train you, Mrrshan," Dahnai told him. "You won't find a better trainer anywhere in the universe."

"I can attest to that," Enva chuckled. "Dahnai did the same for me. I had no idea I could do so much with telepathy until I was trained by Feta."

"My guards are the _best_," Dahnai said proudly. "They'll turn you into a master telepath in no time, Mrrshan. Besides, it's only fair given that your people are training us in TK."

"We'll need your help with that, Dahnai, both us and the Muri. We don't have enough telepaths to train everyone fast enough to avoid potential upheaval. The Muri more than us."

"We'll hammer that out during this conference, Mrrshan," she promised. "We're already doing that for the Kirri, the Urumi, and the Terrans. I have a four hundred billion Faey in the Imperium, I can send them out to train everyone. They don't necessarily have to be professional teachers in order to teach the basics."

"That's something we'll have to keep in mind as we come up with a plan," Enva said. "If we just let the virus loose, it might cause chaos as too many people express and have no one to train them."

"That's something we might be able to use to our advantage," Dahnai said liltingly.

"Dahnai," Jason warned.

"What? If there's chaos in the other empires, it will prevent them from organizing anything against _us_," she said in protest. "They'll be too busy dealing with out of control telepaths to launch an attack against us. I'm not talking about conquering them, you jackass. I'm saying that their internal strife protects us from an organized attack."

"I'm sure Krazrou will have an entire folder devoted to that very subject," Enva noted lightly. "He is a very thorough fellow."

"All Kirri are," Jason said. "It's why I've spent years trying to recruit them into the house, even to the point where we're seeding symbiotes into the Karis ecosystem to attract them. They are a very capable people, and the House would be richer for them being part of it."

They got back to business after Sk'Vrae woke up, and started to debate not spreading the virus, but how the six races represented at the table would protect themselves from potential attack and upheaval as the rest of the galaxy both in the short them, when they were the only Generations, and in the long term, as the others started to become Generations. Jason wanted that plan in place first, before they even considered releasing the virus intentionally, and he convinced the others that it had priority…which was primarily convincing Krazrou. A plan slowly evolved from their discussion that prioritized protection, particularly protecting the Pai and Muri since their empires were so small and lacked the resources of the empires that may attack them as well as a detailed plan offered by Miaari that would protect Terra and the Terrans, given Terra was a neutral planet that had no standing military of its own, and it couldn't entirely depend on the CCM for protection if things went south in a hurry.

Four more hours of debate and some input from their military specialists resulted in the Oasis Accord, a military alliance of the six empires at the table over and above the Confederation, which would protect all eight Empires and the Terrans against anyone that may attack them. Granted, the vast majority of that military protection would come from the Karrines, Faey, Grimja, and Urumi, but that didn't mean that the Kirri, Pai, Sha'i-ree, and Muri wouldn't help. Included in that was re-opening Kosigi for shipbuilding operations for their new allies, allowing them to use Kosigi's superior infrastructure and advantages to build their warships…which Jason didn't mind that much. Kosigi was slowly drawing down as they finished the fleet, and Dellin and Cynna would probably be overjoyed to have Kosigi jumping again. Plus, the Karinnes _did_ earn money from other empires using it, since they supplied almost all of their raw materials or earned money from bridge transit fees from them shipping their equipment to the base. The only sticking point that took the others a while to push down Jason's throat was to open Karis to the other members of the Accord, at least on a limited basis. Karis would still be a closed planet to the outside, but he would allow travel to and from Karis for citizens of the other empires in the Accords who passed Kimdori security screening, plus allow Karinnes to travel freely in their empires. Jason had to be talked into that, but the potential gains for his people from a morale standpoint outweighed the potential security risk that visitors to Karis may pose. Once he forced them to accept his provision that the Kimdori would screen visitors to Karis, he relented.

Included in the Accords were provisions to have Dahnai send Faey instructors to the other empires in large numbers to train their fledgling telepaths, as well as to have the Pai teach telekinesis to the members of their allies' militaries. Their civilians would still need to take the Academy TK course or learn locally, which was more or less necessary. There just weren't enough Pai to train everyone, it would depopulate the planet to try it.

The one part of the Accords that Jason had resisted at first, but ultimately accepted, was to give the Grimja and the Sha'i-ree access to the retrovirus to use as they saw fit within their empires. For both of them, it would mean lengthy discussions with their governments, the Supreme Council for Enva and the Union Congress for Kreel, to decide just how they were going to use the virus. Getting the Union into the Accords was important because they were actually the strongest military power in their sector, and Enva had managed to talk Dahnai into it, and Dahnai was one of the few people that could exert real pressure on Jason. It would mean the ultimate conversion of both empires to become Generations, but the truth was, he saw neither the Grimja nor the Sha'i-ree as threats to peace. Both were very peaceful species with stable governments, who only got into wars when those wars were started by someone else. In the history of both empires, they had never been the aggressor, and Jason would be depending on that moving forward to keep them under control.

He did drag one concession out of them, however, and that was that Enva and Kreel couldn't _force_ their people to become Generations. If they used the virus, they had to put in a system where those who didn't want to be changed would be protected for however long it took for the virus to die off in their empires.

After finalizing the Accords, they signed them…and Mrrshan almost couldn't finish signing his name. In a stark reminder of exactly why they were there and what it meant, Mrrshan fell into a coma during the signing ceremony as he began transition. Since he was so small and thus had far fewer cells in his body for the virus to transform than most other races, the virus had reached the transition point with him very quickly, and he would finish transition faster. Jason had Mrrshan taken to the nearest medical facility, which was on board one of the fleet flagships in orbit, where he would finish his transition in about nine hours. Mrri took her father's place in the ceremony after he was carted off on a hovergurney.

Once the ceremony was done, Krazrou addressed them. "I think we should suspend this conference until Mrrshan can return," he ventured. "And it might behoove us to also wait until Chancellor Elrin also completes his transition, so we don't have him pass out on us in the middle of talks."

Elrin chuckled. "I'm not quite as far along as Mrrshan, Moderator. The last check-up I was given revealed that I've been infected, but I won't begin transition for a while."

"That would be my fault," Mrri admitted. "I'm the one that infected Paian and Muros. I took it back with me before the quarantine went into effect. That's also why my father and the Chancellor are so far along, I was with both of them before I was isolated."

"I'm not going to be mad at you, Princess," Elrin chuckled.

"I wouldn't either," Enva said lightly. "I felt very lucky to be exposed when the virus appeared. Now that I've started to learn about my new abilities, I wouldn't trade being a Generation for anything. I love it."

"Amen," Dahnai agreed with a smile.

"That will be part of what we discuss when we resume the conference," Krazrou said. "Is there objection to resuming this conference once Mrrshan and Elrin complete transition and can return?"

"I think it's the prudent thing to do," Sk'Vrae injected.

"How long will that be, Cybi?"

"Going from the Chancellor's medical data, perhaps 60 hours," she replied. "He should begin transition early tomorrow local Muros time and complete transition in approximately twenty hours."

"Then three days from today, to give Elrin a chance to rest?" Krazrou suggested.

"Sounds good. I can spend a day on Karis, I've missed being able to hang out," Kreel said. "We'll start debating how to use the virus in a couple of days, I'm gonna take one day and spend it with my best friend," he smiled over at Jason. "My staff can do the busy work while we catch a baseball game."

"Since I'm back in quarantine, I may as well go too," Enva chuckled. "If you don't mind me along, Jason."

"Of course not, Enva."

"You can stay in the summer palace while you're there, En," Dahnai told her. "Jason will have his hands full with Kreel, and besides, I know you enjoy a little luxury. I'll warn my staff there you'll be staying for a while as my guest."

"That's lovely, Dahnai, thank you," she smiled. "I can attend council meetings on Homeworld using my bionoid."

"It's what I'm gonna do," Kreel nodded.

"I wish I could go to Karis too," Dahnai sighed. "There's too much going on in the Imperium for me to go to the summer palace right now. We've got a lot of work to do organizing trainers for everyone."

"Cynna's already there, she can help you with that," Jason told her.

She nodded. "Believe me, I'm gonna work that girl when I get home," she confirmed. "I'm gonna need a CBIM to handle the logistics of sending out a few _billion_ trainers."

_"I'm already working on a plan, Dahnai. I'll show it to you when you get back,"_ Cynna's voice came from a speaker in the room.

"Sounds good. Have Lorna there when you present it," she replied

So, Jason had two unintended passengers with him on the _Defiant_ when Mikano took him back to Karis. Kreel made good on his declaration, having his staff go back to Grimjar and start preparing a presentation for the Union Congress while he went back to Karis. Him being exposed to the virus again meant he was back in isolation, it reset the countdown timer for him, and he was going to attend the Congress session from Karis using a bionoid. Enva was going to spend her quarantine time at Dahnai's summer palace, which had the facilities she'd need to use a bionoid to manage her government. No doubt she'd spend most of her time on the strip, but she was right in that Kreel tended to take over Jason's house when he was there.

But while a day off hanging out with Kreel would do wonders for his mood, he had way too much on the table to ignore it. It was 25:30 at night on Karis when they got back, with the kids all in bed. Almost as soon as he was back home, he was in his office, and the first order of business was with Dellin, who was waiting in his office on Kosigi despite the late time, waiting for Jason to talk to him. Cynna had already warned him about the Accords, so when Jason got him on holo, he already had a preliminary plan to present about Kosigi. "We've drawn down in several sectors of the base that we can allow the others to use," he said, pointing at a hologram showing the interior of the moon. "I've restarted Miaari's security plan for protecting biogenic and translight components from when we had them in the base. By the time they're all ready to move back in, we'll be ready."

"Good deal, Dellin. "Just remember that many all of them will be Generations. So get with Miaari and adjust the security protocols to take that into account."

He nodded. "It's a good thing we adopted ELC and commune signature ID protocols already, so we'll be ready in that regard."

After touching base with Dellin, he had Miaari come over to his office. He told her about the Accords and let her read them. "Bottom line it, Mee. How fast can you have the security upgrades and screening system in place?"

"About a month," she said as she looked at the tablet. "I'm surprised you agreed to hand over the virus to the Grimja and Sha'i-ree."

"Enva more or less got Dahnai to talk me into it," he grunted. "As far as the Grimja go, I can live with them being Generations. Besides, we need their firepower for the military alliance. Adding the Grimja in with the KMS, the Imperium, and the Collective's forces creates an alliance than even the CCM will think twice about challenging."

"Given the Prakarikai are in their sector, I understand the Union's position on having a strong military," Miaari said dryly. "Plus it gives them a way to keep a good portion of their massive population employed."

He nodded. "The Grimja are almost like the Skaa like that, they can throw sheer numbers at you," he chuckled without much humor. "Any word on what the Jirunji and Subrians are doing with the virus?"

"Yes, actually. The Jirunji are conducting an experiment to find out if the virus alters the behavior of males in its current state. They've deliberately infected one of Sovial's sons and one of her military commander's sons, who have different bloodlines, and they're going to see how they react when in proximity to each other. The males were volunteers," she told him. "The two males are best friends online, and they agreed to the experiment because they'd like to actually be in the same room without trying to kill each other. The experiment is slated to take a month, to see if males can stay in close proximity over a long period of time. If the experiment is a success, Sovial will expand the experiment to one hundred males. If that experiment is a success, she intends to release the virus into her empire."

"I…I think I could live with that," he said slowly. "The Jirunji themselves aren't aggressive, and I can fully understand why Sovial would go to that extreme. What about Holikk?"

"They're still in debate about it," she answered. "A large segment of his advisors aware of it want him to release the virus, so he's getting political pressure. But the ultimate decision is his, it's within his power as Chancellor in their system."

"Keep me up to date with Sovial's experiment."

"I will. The males are currently in transition. They intend to bring them together almost as soon as they wake up, under tightly controlled conditions," she said soberly. "If they don't react aggressively to each other, the next part of the experiment is to have them train in telepathy together, to see if they can tolerate extended contact. If they can last a full month without any aggressive episodes, Sovial will expand the experiment to one hundred, bringing males together who _aren't_ friends. The fact that the two males are best friends may have an effect on their ability to tolerate each other. Males who are strangers to each other may have a very different reaction when brought together."

"Sovial certainly covers all the bases," Jason nodded.

"The Jirunji are very intelligent, Jason. I would find them acceptable as cousins."

"I may not have a choice but to accept them," Jason grunted. "And a whole lot more new cousins, if Krazrou gets his way."

"Any movement on that front?"

He shook his head. "We suspended the conference when Mrrshan started transition. He literally passed out during the signing ceremony for the Accords," he grunted. "We'll reconvene when both he and Elrin have finished transition and are up to it. I'm…still not sure if that's the best idea, Mee. I can see the logic of what Kraz is saying, but I'm not nearly as practical as he is. But…but I think he might be right," he sighed, leaning back in his chair. "I think it _is_ just a matter of time before the Generation retrovirus sweeps across the galaxy. It may not be this one, and it may not be anytime soon, but it _will_ eventually happen. And we do need a strategy for how we deal with that problem. The Accords were the first step, but they won't be the last."

"If it is inevitable, then perhaps Krazrou is right that we get it over with quickly," she suggested. "That way there are no wars being fought over the virus or over who's been exposed to the virus, no potential for deadly plagues sweeping across the galaxy. It will cause a major shift in Kimdori policy, and make keeping our intelligence operations much harder to keep secret, but we will adapt."

"Yeah, no more just taking the shape of another race and walking into their facilities," he mused.

"On the contrary, cousin, if _everyone_ is a Generation, then we will simply be hidden among them by our sense of presence," she countered. "We don't have a different sense of presence, cousin. If you looked at me side by side with a Generation, you wouldn't be able to tell us apart if I was in the Generation's shape. And with a memory band, we can emulate commune, further concealing us."

He gave her a look, then gave a sudden short, soft laugh. "That's true," he realized. "We'll just need to develop a memory band that makes commune much more _organic_, and you could do it."

"We've developed bands that can already do that," she replied easily. "We can't mimic the unique ID signature of an organic mind, but we have memory bands that perfectly mimic organic commune. And those bands are themselves unique, which we could use as our own signature ID. So all we need do is find a way to implant the ID of our memory band into a security system, and we can bypass a signature ID checkpoint."

"It sounds like you tested that against _our_ system," he accused.

"Of course we did," she smiled. "It was the perfect system to use as a foil to design our new infiltrator class memory bands."

He gave her a curious look. "So how did you do it? Most memory bands don't have the bandwidth to emulate organic commune."

"We use RK class master processors in them. They were specifically designed to be able to commune with far more bandwidth than a Generation. They have no trouble emulating organic commune."

His eyes widened a bit, then he nodded. "Yeah, those can do it," he agreed. "The only trick is to dial them back so they don't commune with too much bandwidth."

"Which we have done," she chuckled.

After going over a few more things with Miaari, he let her go home to get some sleep, but he didn't feel sleepy. He wandered the house a bit, checking on the babies, checking the girls, then wandering out onto the deck and standing at the rail to watch the waves break on the shore. How did it come to this? Just a couple of months ago, he would have never agreed to allow the virus to be used. He would have fought the idea tooth and nail to his dying breath, yet it only took a couple of hours for Dahnai to talk him into it. He knew the answer to that, though. He knew that Krazrou was right, and that the spread of a retrovirus, either this one or a new one, was inevitable. The Generations were a _disease_, like a zombie virus from a Terran zombie apocalypse movie, and now that they'd established themselves in the body that was this galaxy, it was inevitable that they were going to spread. It may not happen in Jason's lifetime, but it was going to happen. And Krazrou was also right that they had to plan for that, not just to keep the rest of the galaxy from trying to kill them, but planning for the time when there were more Generations in the galaxy than there were…_unchanged_. And the key to that was going to be protecting biogenic technology.

At first, he was almost dreading the spread of the virus, and almost felt like the world was ending. Then as he saw how his own people and the Imperium adjusted to being Generations…he wasn't quite so terrified of what might happen. He went from doom and gloom to _it could have been way worse_, then when the Kirri were infected, it became _it's bad, but not as bad as I thought._ When he found out the Terrans and Urumi were infected, his viewpoint evolved to _okay, I think we can work with this complication_. And now, he'd voluntarily allowed two empires to use the virus as they saw fit, he'd allowed two empires to use the virus to make more Generations. He was no longer reacting to the spread of the virus, he was _allowing_ the spread of the virus, he was going against what he believed not two months ago. Was allowing it semantics? Was it short-sighted expediency, because the Accords _needed_ the Grimja if they were attacked by the rest of the galaxy? Could he be making a dreadful mistake that might put the House of Karinne in mortal jeopardy?

Of course he could. _Any_ decision he made might put the House in jeopardy, if he made a poor decision. And his decision about the virus had been hasty, made within just a couple of hours of consideration. But was it the right choice?

Only time would tell.

But one thing was for certain, and that was that Sk'Vrae was right. The safety of the house absolutely depended on turning Karis into an unassailable fortress.

And what did he do? Grant visitation rights to seven other empires and Terrans. But that was important, because it allowed his people to travel as well, travel within the boundaries of _Generation territory_. They needed that, they needed to feel like they weren't prisoners within house territory. The original Generations accepted their imprisonment, but it wasn't really fair to demand it of everyone else. That was not what they signed up for when they joined the house. Miaari was confident she could keep those visitors out of trouble, so he wasn't too worried about it. Well, a _little_ worried, but if Miaari said she could do it, then she could.

It was the resignation, that had to be it. That was what was causing his shift in attitude. Trying to fight against it seemed more and more pointless with every new planet, new empire that was infected by the virus, knowing that another one could rise up once this one finally died off. There was simply no way to stop the virus, and that stark fact had altered his point of view over the last couple of months.

God, he would _so_ need a vacation after all this chaos was over.

The sound of metal boots on the wooden deck touched his ears, and he glanced to the side to see Hara come up to him and lean on the rail beside him. She had her visor off, allowing him to see her lovely pale lavender eyes, eyes that couldn't stand the brightness of the Karis sun due to her being genetically adapted to a nocturnal lifestyle. Hara and Palla were great examples of the unique attribute of the Faey among most species, the ability to genetically adapt to different environmental conditions much faster than most other species. The Faey could evolve to adapt to the conditions in which they lived, which created a lot of diversity in their race. Hara's strain of Faey evolved night vision because they lived on an arid world with multiple suns that were so bright that it made them nocturnal to avoid that bright light, sleeping through the day when it was too bright and very hot and coming out after the suns set. _[Heavy thoughts?]_ she asked, glancing over at him.

_[Nothing but since all this started, but tonight's thoughts are heavier than most,]_ he answered. _[Today I crossed a line I never thought I'd cross.]_

_ [And what is that?]_

_ [I gave permission for the Grimja and the Sha'i-ree to release the virus into their empires,]_ he answered. He kept no secrets from his guards, because he knew it would go no further. _[I did it for a purely political reason, and now I'm wondering if I didn't just sign all of our death warrants.]_

_ [How so?]_

In a brief moment, he conveyed to her the contents and intent of the Accords. _[We need the Grimja, we need their military and their manpower for basic survival if the rest of the galaxy turns against us. I made that decision purely seeing them as an _asset_, and in that way, I feel ashamed. But it also showed me how my point of view has shifted over the months, because I thought about it and told myself that having the Grimja be Generations wouldn't be all that bad. The Grimja aren't inherently aggressive, and they're too busy partying to worry too much about galactic domination. The Sha'i-ree are in the same boat for another reason. They're also not inherently aggressive, and their need for extensive social contacts and connections makes them a relatively _safe_ race to be Generations. They solve their problems with words, not guns. When I allowed it, I was thinking to myself _I can live with them being cousins, so why not?_ I think that _why not_ is going to haunt me,]_ he told her, his thought disquieted and apprehensive.

_[Not over them,]_ Hara assured him. _[You're right about both of them. Neither the Grimja nor the Sha'i-ree are a threat to galactic peace if they become Generations. I think you'll find them strong allies in the time to come.]_

_ [What time is that?]_

_ [What you must have realized is coming. The systematic conversion of most of the spacefaring galaxy to Generations.]_

He sighed and looked down at the moonlit beach. _[It's that obvious?]_

_ [To someone with access to the information we have,]_ she nodded. _[Have you set 3D to finding a way to make Karis unreachable by attackers? There will come a time when one of them will try for biogenic technology, and everyone knows that the Karinnes _only_ make it here. Nowhere else. You need to be ready for it.]_

_ [Yes, but I'm not holding too much hope that they come up with something perfect. Myli's still working on the Kimdori light scrambler to turn it into a translight interdictor, and the rest of 3D is researching various ideas that may help defend the planet. But nothing solid yet. At this rate, I think I'd settle for something barely decent, just to give me some hope.]_

_ [Just have faith, Jason. They won't let you down.]_

_ [No. No they won't,]_ he agreed, looking over at her with a smile. _[As much as I know that you girls will never let me down.]_

_ [We'd better not. Captain Aya would murder us,]_ she communed dryly, which made him chuckle aloud.

_[Oh come now, _Lieutenant_ Hara,]_ he replied a bit formally.

_[I'm still not used to that. Most of the girls still call me Sergeant.]_

_ [You deserved it way more than Dera did,]_ he grinned.

She gave that voiceless, wheezing laugh. _[Speaking of getting murdered, you'd better be glad she's asleep and didn't hear you.]_

_ [Oh yes I did,]_ Dera injected from the barracks. _[We'll have a long talk about worthiness in the morning, Jason. Bring your armor.]_

_ [You're in trouble now,]_ Hara winked. _[Dera fights dirty.]_

_ [So do I, that makes it a fair fight. As it were,]_ he answered cheekily.

_Maista, 10 Oraa , 4408, Faey Orthodox Calendar_

_ Sunday, 23 September 2022 Terran Standard Calendar_

_ Maista, 10 Oraa, year 1333 of the 97__th__ Generation, Karinne Historical Reference Calendar_

_The White House, Karsa, Karis_

It didn't take long at all for things to get a little crazy.

And not just on Karis. Right now, the entire Imperium was all but being set on its ear as Dahnai sent out a massive number of Faey to train telepaths, and the other empires were in a little chaos right now as they dealt with the dual logistical nightmares of managing a transitioning population and training those who had transitioned. People who finished transition were expressing randomly, some the same day they woke up while others still hadn't expressed after over a month, so that randomness was added into the mix as citizens expressed in a pattern that was impossible to predict, who then had to be given at least basic training in closing their mind very quickly before the open thoughts of others drove them to a schism.

And schisms were definitely a problem right now, in more than one empire. One of the biggest cases that had importance to Jason was Kevin Ball. He had the report in front of him, and was reading through it. He expressed a while ago according to the report, and since he was afraid of Faey, they had problems finding an instructor for him. Well, given his background and his history, it was no real shock that the inability to block out "the voices," the thoughts of those around him with open minds, drove him to a schism while he was out shopping. And _boy_ did he have a schism. The responding officer that filed the report wrote that it took _five_ Imperial Marines to subdue him, and it was because they were Faey that they had so much trouble. Kevin had been tortured by sadistic Trillane guards during the subjugation, and having a Faey try to lock him down had triggered all his fear and pain and rage, which fueled his power to a level that it took half a squad to contain him. He was in a medical annex right now under observation, making sure that he suffered no permanent damage from mental battle with the Marines that had to subdue him.

Though, according to the medical report from the psiologist that examined him after they brought him in, it might have not _only_ been the memories and the rage. It turned out that Kevin Ball was one _hell_ of a powerful telepath, as in as strong as an Imperial Marine. That put him in the top ten percentile of telepaths among the Faey, stronger than most women, and probably nearly as strong as Jason himself. Jason still held the distinction of being the most powerful male telepath who was Faey or Terran, and from this report, Kevin Ball very well may challenge his "title." All that power fueled by his fear and rage, no wonder it took five Marines to subdue him.

The important thing was, Kevin was fine, the Marines were fine, nobody suffered any permanent harm, and they had Kevin in an environment where they could prevent another schism while he learned how to close his mind and control his power so he wasn't hearing people with open minds. Rahne had volunteered to go to Terra and teach him, and Jason condoned it. She was an original Generation, she was a hell of a lot stronger than Kevin was even without a gestalt, and she'd be even more powerful than that since she'd have her tactical gestalt with her.

Kevin had made some progress in his life since Jason last saw him. Miaari had her own report attached to the medical report, she'd been keeping an eye on him, and he'd made some changes in his life since Jason paid him the money the DFM owed him. He'd moved out of that efficiency and into a fairly nice beachside condo building on the south side of Jacksonville, had bought a hovercar and a space-capable skimmer and gotten his Class 3 to fly it—which he spent flying back and forth to Sao Paolo to see Sano mostly—and had become a professional gamer since quitting his job. Kevin was making a fairly good living by putting up viddy of his activities in Citadel Online, making tutorials and guides in how to solo and explore and raise reputation with important factions to get powerful or really fun quest rewards from them, and also did some live streaming from time to time, like how the pro gamer Youtubers and streamers used to do before the subjugation. He was making enough money doing it to not have to touch the money Jason gave him, which he had wisely invested so it was structured to allow him to live off the returns for the rest of his life. He wouldn't live in luxury the way he'd done it, but he would always have the money to pay his bills, live a comfortable lower middle class lifestyle, and have plenty enough left over to treat himself from time to time. But now he was making a surprising amount of money making CO videos and streaming...but maybe it wasn't so surprising, once Jason thought about it.

Simply put, Kevin Ball was one of _the best_ CO players in the game, despite his solo playstyle. Or maybe because of it, since what he could do was so unique and so engaging, and the skills he developed taking on overworld boss monsters solo turned him into an absolute terror in other content. His unique skills made him so entertaining to watch, either on a viddy or on a live stream, that he earned a very good living doing it. Inside CO, Kevin Ball was just as formidable as Gen and Kyva were in the real world.

It was a good comparison. Kevin Ball was the Gen Lun Ba Ru or Kyva Karinne of Citadel Online. He was almost tempted to have the devs make characters for Gen and Kyva and have the three of them duel inside the game. He could sell it on pay per view and make an absolute bloody fortune.

Cyvanne kept track of him—he was one of her favorite players—and had told him that between his skills and his natural intelligence, he was one of the most skilled and dangerous players in the game. As in _the entire game_, which had over a _billion_ active players. His skills were ridiculously high thanks to Lone Wolf, and now he was fully geared in either Champion's Raiment or drops from the Citadel, and that turned him into a _fucking beast_. She'd reported that he was actually starting to get a little bored, because now he was overgearing his preferred content and it was getting almost too easy for him. That was why she was glad that the next Champion's event was about to start in the game, which would ultimately create the connection to the Elemental Plane of Fire.

The Grand Crusade wasn't the only content Cyvanne made just for the Champions. The Champions would be involved in establishing the connections to the other three elemental planes, and would then help open them up to the players. And it would ultimately allow the Champions to complete the full set of Champion's Raiment. They were missing four pieces after the Grand Crusade, and they would earn those last four pieces doing the unlock quests for the other three planes and then the final quest line that would open the elemental planes to the players.

That content was already in place and ready for the players. It had passed beta testing and had been patched into the live game, but the players had no way to get to the planes right now…at least not _all_ of them. Cyvanne told him that the four players on each server that had the Legendary skill that connected them to the four races of genies _could_ enter their respective elemental plane early, if they got their legendary skill to 2,000. That was the threshold that permitted them to pass into their connected plane. No one on any server that had one of the skills had gotten it to 2,000 yet, but she told him that Kevin was further along than the vast majority of those lucky players that had those skills. He wasn't the closest to 2,000, but he was in 43rd place if they were ranked by how close they were. The closest player was on the Mekarok server, which served the Verutan Empire, with a rating of 1,958. Kevin's rating was 1,906, and the 50th place guy was at 1,820, so there wasn't much real estate separating the top 50.

He missed playing CO. When all this chaos was over, he was going devote a couple of days of his vacation to playing.

But that would have to wait. He had a meeting with Myri, Meya, and Myra in a few minutes, then he'd be returning to Oasis with the other members of the Accords and hammering out more details about it. After that, they'd discuss the future, and just what they were going to do…which he still really had no idea what he was going to do. Krazrou had a point, but he couldn't see intentionally spreading the virus to the rest of the galaxy. It would create upheaval and possibly even war, and would put Karis in very real danger.

That was why he was going to have a very long talk with the guys over at 3D tomorrow, to see if they'd made any progress on anything that might protect the planet from invasion. The current defenses around Karis would make taking it a very ugly proposition, but it could be done if the enemy threw enough ships at them. And it was the reason he was going to talk to Myri and the twins before the conference.

_[Revered Hive-leader, they are here.]_

_ [Thanks, Chirk. Send them in.]_

The three Faey women filed in, Myra holding Chichi—Chichi adored Myra—and took seats across from his desk. _[What did you want to talk about, Jayce?]_ Meya asked.

_[I wanted you to hear it from me directly. I'm activating the wartime operations plan for the KES, girls,]_ he answered, giving them a serious look that matched the solemnity of his thought. _[There's too much potential for everything to go to hell with so many empires being affected by the virus, so I'm stepping up our military readiness. Meya, Myra, get the KES ready to shift to wartime operations. That means we're curtailing exploration for the near future, until things settle down here in the home galaxy. That's going to include bringing in all forward post Stargates back to Janja in case they're needed for military deployment. I know that it'll be a pain in the ass to drag them all back here and then put them all back out there when this is over, but right now, what's most important is what's going on in _this _galaxy.]_ He shifted his gaze. _[Myri, I want you to activate all Class One reservists and put all Class Two reservists on notice they may be activated. I want the fleet kept at operational readiness at all times. They don't have to all stay here at Karis, but I want every ship in the fleet, KMS or KES, to be within a one hour's jump back to Karis at all times in case they're needed.]_

_ [I was expecting you to do this, Jayce,]_ Myra nodded. _[We've already got a lot of the work done, including placating all the angry scientists. We're setting up some remote operations so they can still do some of their work, mainly by sending out some bionoids to replace them on the research stations.]_

_ [That's not going to work,]_ Jason warned. _[With the KES fleets recalled, that means there's no ship within response range of any of the forward biogenic comm units. So I'm having those recalled as well. I'm not leaving those out there unwatched and unprotected,]_ he informed them bluntly. _[We'll put them back out when we return to exploration, but until then, they come home.]_

_ [It'll take us months to restore everything back to normal!]_ Meya protested.

_[It's better than the alternative.]_

_ [You know that the other empires are going to see us shifting to military mode. They have scientists sitting in medical quarantine up in Kosigi that will find out that their ships are shifting to military service,]_ Myra warned. _[They'll find out we're pulling our scout ships for active duty.]_

_ [I know, and in a way, I _want _them to know that I'm fortifying Karis. I want them to know we're ready for anyone that tries anything,]_ he communed with adamance.

_[Alright then. All of our ships and crews are already here, so it won't take much to get everything ready,]_ Meya communed, annoyance rippling under her thought. _[We can have the KES ready for hand-over to Myri in a couple of days.]_

_ [I want one of you two in the command center while the KES is on active deployment,]_ Myri told them.

_[I'll do it,]_ Myra volunteered. _[Sister can handle the paperwork while I keep an eye on our assets, make sure Myri doesn't blow up our ships.]_

_ [You're not getting out of the paperwork that easy,]_ Meya challenged. _[You can do your part of it from a console in the command center.]_

_ [Damn.]_

Jason had to give a half-smile at that. _[Hopefully the KES won't be on active status for long. I'm hoping to have you back on regular duty in a month or two. I just want to make absolutely sure that if anything happens, we're ready for it.]_

_ [No need to explain, babe, we understand why you're doing it. It's just gonna be a lot of paperwork for us, and you know how much we hate paperwork.,]_ Meya replied.

_[Yeah, you're not doing this just to piss us off, are you?]_ Myra challenged with a smile.

_[You'll never know,]_ he teased, which made the three of them laugh.

_[Though, this will be good practice for our ships,]_ Meya mused. _[We've only done active duty practice drills, this is the first time we've done it for real, and done it for the entire KES. It'll let us identify any problems with the system and correct them if it happens again.]_

_ [That's a good attitude,]_ Jason nodded. _[Now if you ladies don't mind, I have to go. The next meeting on Oasis is starting in about an hour, and I don't want to be late.]_

_ [No problem, babe, we got a lot of our own stuff to do now, thanks to you,]_ Myra accused.

_ [I'll have Cybi and Cynna keep you up to date on our status, Jayce,]_ Myri communed as she stood up. The twins did the same, Myra setting Chichi a little in her arms.

_[Good deal. See you girls when I get back.]_

_ [Good luck.] _


End file.
